"Birds Coughing in the Trees"

By: Lady Jenna

The two cars pulled into their respective parking places in unison. From the larger and more family oriented of the two exited a tall, brown haired man with a beard roughly growing in around his face. He stood briefly by his car in awe of the landscape that surrounded him.

From the second and more costly looking car exited a man with graying hair and a generally malcontent look on his face. He glared at the first man annoyed by the wonderment still on his face.

"They're just mountains. Rock, and dirt, and, snow," the second man muttered, beginning the daily banter the two had every morning.

"Oh come on, Dr. Abbott. Even you have to admit they're quite majestic."

"See how majestic they look after your first hiker injury. Or the second. Or the third. Or the fourth," Dr. Abbott said. Andrew Brown, the first man, simply shook his head a smiled. Then the two men parted ways, heading for his own separate Medical Clinic.

Dr. Brown stepped out of the street and onto the snowy sidewalk just as a loud, powerful sounding motorcycle pulled to a stop at the curb. The driver, an elderly and rough looking woman, was expected. The passenger, who joined her, was not. The expected woman unlatched her helmet and hung it from the handlebars; the unexpected one unlatched her helmet and sat it on the seat. In contrast to the elderly and rough looking driver, the passenger was a girl no more than 15, who looked around her at the mountains with awe.

"Morning, Doc," the driver said to Dr. Brown with a nod of military courtesy.

"Good morning, Edna. Who's this?" Dr. Brown asked as the girl walked over to Edna Harper's side. Edna sighed irritably.

"She's the reason I'm going to be a little late coming in today. Doc this is Juliet Green, Jig, this is Dr. Brown," Edna said and the two exchanged nods. Edna sighed again and cleared her throat.

"Yea, she's my sister's granddaughter, she'll be up here staying with us for awhile. Today's her first day of school, so I gotta go make sure everything's okay."

"That's perfectly fine, Edna, take all the time you need. Nice to meet you," he said with a nod to the girl, who nodded back.

A few steps past the wooden doors and into the revamped train station/ medical clinic Dr. Brown sighed upon seeing the first of the day's patients. A woman sat on a wooden bench with a look of embarrassment on her face. She leaned back in the bench to reveal the black haired boy sitting next to her. He was a toddler perhaps no more than three, and looked about himself as if he was completely confused by his surroundings. Lodged a good way up his left nostril, was a red crayon.

"Devin, again?" Dr. Brown asked. The woman nodded and Dr. Brown motioned the both of them into his examination room.

Ephram Brown, upon the completion of etching his name into the wooden desk and the ringing of the bell, leaned up off of his desk and placed all of his books into a pile. The class filed out of the room around him, some quite, some chatting wickedly with friends. One student hung back to converse with the teacher. Ephram stood and gathered his books up in his arms. He searched the floor for any fallen items, and, finding none, was about to exit the room as his peers had done before him. The only obstacle from him doing this, was a forgotten notebook left on the desk behind him. Normally such a thing would be of little notice, but this particular notebook was covered with pictures familiar to him. He picked it up with a free hand and studied the front and back of it. Cowboy Bebop, Gundam Wing, Blue Sub 6, Lain. It was covered in pictures he didn't know anyone else in Everwood had ever heard of before. He added it to the pile of books he was already laden with and vowed to find its owner before the day was through.

It was lunchtime and Amy Abbott was searching the noisy cafeteria for Ephram Brown. There was something she really needed to talk to him about. Unfortunately, her brother found her before she found Ephram. She sighed with a growing distaste for her brother's company, but the social order obliged her to sit with him and their shared friends.

A moment after Amy's eyes stopped searching for Ephram, he slumped down into a chair in the cafeteria and buried his face into his folded arms on the table. He had no luck finding the notebook's owner, and to make matters worse he had seen Amy sitting with her simpleton brother and their posse. The image of the boy laying in a hospital bed, asleep through a coma, placed itself in Ephram's mind. Then the Grover story Amy told him played over again for him. She did love Colin.

"What's with you?"

"I'm in love with a girl who's in love with a guy in a coma," he found the words coming from his lips before he realized it. He jerked his head up, hoping he had imagined the words or mumbled them beyond comprehension. The girl who had taken a seat at his deserted table looked at him with a surprised gaze. Proving that she had heard him well enough.

"At least she doesn't turn into a guy, cat, panda, or a little pig in water," she told him placing a faint smile on her face. The pure oddity of the remark made him surprised before it began to make sense. Before he could say anything the girl laughed more to herself them publicly.

"Sorry, there's this show called Ranma ½ where the characters-" she started but was stopped when Ephram leaned back, revealing the figures on his black shirt. She smiled genuinely and fully, and let out a small laugh.

"Finally a man of quality," she said amused. Ephram pulled out the notebook and handed it to the unknown girl.

"Yours?" he asked her. She studied it before taking it from his hands. She nodded.

"I was wondering where I had left it."

"History."

"That sounds about right," she said and they both fell silent, a tad in awe of meeting another fan of Anime. After a few moments the unknown girl sighed in frustration.

"Girl in love with a guy in a coma? That would be Amy Abbott, and you would be Ephram Brown," she sighed, angry for not placing it sooner. Ephram was a bit surprised that a connection could be made, but extended his hand to her none the less.

"Ephram Brown," he introduced himself. She shook it.

"Jig."

"Jig?"

"Juliet Ira Green."

"Oh, Jig."

"Geez I shoulda known it was you just by lookin' at 'cha. You certainly don't look like the typical Everwood citizen."

"Thank you. But, now, how do you know about Amy and Colin?" he asked her, not really enjoying the customary exchange of pleasantries and preferring the point dealt with.

"Colin, is that his name? I'm Amy's cousin. Well, second cousin. Our grandmothers were sisters," she explained. Ephram nodded in understanding. Was there anyone in the world not related to the Abbott's?

"You don't look like you're from Everwood, either," Ephram told her.

"LA," she answered the question he didn't ask. He nodded.

"Quite the switch."

"Yea. From New York must be an interesting move," she said and they both fell silent. Jig sighed.

"She talks about you a lot," Jig said catching Ephram's immediate attention.

"Who?" he asked her, pretending that he didn't know.

"The Queen of England. She'd like to know if you wish to join her for tea."

"Okay, fine. What kind of stuff does Amy say about me?"

"Well she told me about your dad being a brain surgeon. That your little sister is adorable."

"Anything actually about me?"

"That you only have one friend in the world and its her…" Jig said and Ephram's face lost the fierce tone it had.

"That's not true."

"Oh name someone else. Yea, ya can't can you?"

"Yes I can."

"Ranma doesn't count, he's a cartoon."

"Anime, there's a difference," Ephram corrected her. Jig smiled. She held up her hand, extending two fingers.

"Now you have two friends."

Ephram walked into his house and was greeted by a rather rank smell. He set his bag down and hung his coat up and fearfully walked toward the kitchen. As he reached the room, the smell grew worse, assuming that was actually possible.

"What does TBSP and TSP stand for?" Ephram heard his little sister Delia ask.

"Tablespoon and teaspoon," Dr. Brown answered her.

"Oh, no…" Ephram said seeing his father standing in front of the stove, "you promised you wouldn't cook again."

"Your sister's class is having a bake sale," Dr. Brown explained.

"If I don't bring in something none of the other kids will let me forget it. One year a kid didn't bring in anything, and they picked on her until college," Delia explained.

"If you let him bake for you you'll be picked on until you retire…" Ephram whispered to her and she smiled.

"Yea, yea, leave the dad alone. Why are you so late getting home?" Dr. Brown asked his son.

"Amy just wanted to talk to me about something," Ephram said. Delia smiled.

"Ephram's got a girlfriend. I bet she just wanted to tell you how much she loves you…" Delia said. Ephram pinched her shoulder slightly.

"She just wanted to tell me that her cousin is in town, that's all."

"Oh Juliet, she seems nice," Dr. Brown said.

"Jig, she goes by Jig."

"Jig, that's a funny name."

"It's her initials."

"She seemed about your age, is she in your grade?"

"Yea. She's elected herself one of my friends, too," Ephram said and scoffed slightly.

"Maybe she loves you," Delia said grinning. Ephram pinched her shoulder again.

"You need a life, seriously," he told her, he then paused and looked at his father opening the oven door, "and maybe a stomach bump."

"I heard that…"